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Monday, October 5, 2009

On the Glenn Beck numbers

From the comments on my article on the Oct. 1 Glenn Beck book signing:

"For the record: I went to the glorious Glenn Beck book signing at Main Street in Exton. The thousands of people were wrapped all around the streets of Main Street. All were true Democrats, Republicans, Independents and more importantly Americans who believe in the Constitution. The writer of the article, Dan Kristie, is a known liberal, and said there were 500 people in the store and dwon the block. If he had walked around the blocks he would have seen the thousands waiting in line to get their booked signed by a truely patriotic American, Glenn Beck. We Americans have seen that the main stream media and Dan Kristie have a real problem when counting true Americans."

-americaneagle

"Known liberal?" Sounds kind of like "known communist." Nostalgic for McCarthyism?

Anyway, a few people have questioned my crowd count. I stand by it. Here's why.

I wrote:

"An hour before the signing started, nearly 500 [Glenn Beck fans] stood in a line that wrapped around the bookstore and continued all the way down one of the blocks of Main Street at Exton."

This is true. At 6 p.m., I walked from the front of the line to the back and counted 441 people. I added 50 to my count, because right before I started counting Barnes and Noble let the first 50 fans into the store.

From 6 p.m. until around 8, when the book signing ended, a lot more people showed up. There may have been a thousand. There may have been more. I didn't do another count. Because the line was continually moving, I wouldn't have trusted a second count.

When I filed the story, I used the figure I had, and I made sure to note the time at which got it. Five hundred in line an hour before a book signing starts isn't bad, especially for a weekday.

Americaneagle is probably still angry about my article on the April 4 West Chester Tea Party. I admit that my crowd count for that event was on the low side. Which is why I was so scrupulous this time. Liberal protestors have also taken issue with my crowd counts.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Charlie said...

Also for the record:

Per Dan's blog:

1) Americaneagle saw "thousands of people ... wrapped all around the streets of Main Street" at "the glorious Glenn Beck book signing."

2) "Americaneagle is probably still angry about my article on the April 4 West Chester Tea Party."

Per Dan's April 21 article, to which he gives the link, "The tea party was organized by Rich Davis, the West Chester conservative activist who also runs the Chester County Victory Movement demonstrations that occur each week from 11 a.m. to noon in front of the courthouse."

No coincidence here: as is well known to local bloggers, Americaneagle is in fact Rich Davis, head of the American Sheepdogs (AKA CCVM), sponsor of the TEA demonstration, and supporter of conservative politicos either already in office or running for offices like School Board.

October 6, 2009 7:28 PM 
Blogger Charlie said...

Beck has some local admirers in the ultra-right-wing group Chester County ACTION, as they include him among other sources of "famous quotes" at http://www.chestercountyaction.org/quotes.htm.

It's an odd collection, starting with Washington, Jefferson, Locke, Penn, and Jay, then jumping the centuries to Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, James Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.

One can bet that not all the candidates endorsed on Chester County ACTION's Election Information page will be comfortable with the talk-show company or with Chester County ACTION's pro-life verging on theocratic views.

October 9, 2009 6:35 AM 

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